The field of this invention relates to photographic printing and more particularly to a developing tray for producing either a black and white or color photographic print.
Recently there has been increased public interest in photography as a hobby. Home printing of pictures has increased significantly. The typical tools of a photographer are a darkroom and associated darkroom equipment which includes processing equipment.
The use of a darkroom is normally a necessity to perform the photographic processes to create durable pictures from light images. The darkroom is a fixed, enclosed area, generally a room in a house or building from which all outside light can be excluded. This darkroom requires a considerable amount of space. It is generally impractical, particularly for non-professional photographers, to set aside such space for this purpose alone. The darkroom is probably the greatest obstacle preventing people from enjoying photography as a hobby. Many dwellings, particularly apartments, simply are not large enough to allow an entire room to be continuely used as a darkroom. The part-time use of a bathroom or a closet necessitates bothersome and time consuming packing and unpacking of photographic equipment before and after use.
Instead of the individual having to utilize outside reproduction facilities or a darkroom, it would be a great advantage to utilize a compact, portable photographic print maker which could be utilized within the individual's home or apartment, easy to operate by a person of minimal skill and training, which produces a print in a short period of time and which can be manufactured at relatively minimal cost.
A portable photographic print maker which avoids the use of outside reproduction facilities or a darkroom is shown and described within U.S. patent application Ser. No. 479,037, filed Mar. 25, 1983, entitled COMBINED PHOTOGRAPHIC ENLARGER AND PRINT DEVELOPING TRAY.
The print developing tray within the aforementioned patent application includes a movable cover which is to be moved from a closed position to an open position and when in the open position exposes an internal chamber of the tray. With the cover in the closed position, the internal chamber is light-tight and liquid-tight. The normal use of the tray is to be connected with a photographic enlarger unit, such as is disclosed within the aforementioned patent application, and the cover is to be moved at the appropriate time to expose a photographic transparency onto an unexposed photographic print which has been previously loaded within the tray. The tray is to then be removed from the photographic enlarger and the print subsequently developed. The print is developed without being removed from the tray. The tray includes a chamber within which is to be located a developing liquid. This developing liquid is then moved to be in contact with the now-exposed print. After the print is developed, the liquid is first removed from the tray and then the now developed print is removed from the tray. The print is removed from the tray by removing the cover of the tray.